Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lashed out at the Congress, saying the “most corrupt” party was being run by the ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang and Urban Naxals.
“The Congress which you see today is not the party with which a great man like Mahatma Gandhi was associated,” Modi said, addressing a public meeting at Wardha in Maharashtra on completion of one year of the PM Vishwakarma scheme.
“The ghost of hatred has entered the Congress,” Modi said.
“In today’s Congress the soul of patriotism has breathed its last,” he added.
Modi also spoke of the “anti-India agendas” of the Congress leaders in their speeches abroad, without naming that party’s leader Rahul Gandhi, who is facing flak from the ruling dispensation for his remark in the US on scrapping the reservation system.
“If there is a corrupt party it is the Congress and the most corrupt family is its shahi parivar,” Modi said, without naming the Gandhi family.
“Congress hates Ganpati puja as well,” Modi said.
“I went to a Ganesh puja programme and Congress criticized it for appeasement politics. Ganpati Bappa was put behind bars in Karnataka. Ganpati idol was put in a police van,” he said.
“Congress allies in Maharashtra kept mum and did not take a stand on Ganpati Bappa’s insult,” Modi said.
In an apparent reference to the ensuing state assembly elections in Maharashtra later this year, Modi said, “In Maharashtra, we have to be aware of their duplicity. Falsehood and betrayal are the hallmark of the Congress and people of Maharashtra should beware of the party,” he said.
The Congress used farmers only for politics and corruption, Modi said.
“We should not give another chance to Congress, which destroyed farmers. Falsehood and betrayal is the hallmark of Congress,” Modi said.
The Congress did not fulfil its election promises in Telangana, he added.
Modi said the SC, ST and OBC categories are the biggest beneficiaries of the PM Vishwakarma scheme, and accused the previous Congress governments of neglecting the Vishwakarma community.
“Congress did not allow SCs, STs and OBCs to prosper. We have put an end to the mindset of the Congress which didn’t allow these communities to prosper. Our vision is to ensure that the beneficiaries don’t remain just artisans but also become entrepreneurs,” he said.
He said his government wants to take the textile industry to the global market and restore the glory of the textile sector.
Modi said the British rulers had conspired to finish off India’s traditional skills.
“Mahatma Gandhi gave a boost to rural traditional skills but governments after Independence did not give justice to the Vishwakarma community, leading to deterioration in the sector,” Modi said.